To boost Charter Schools Program funding to $500m/yr, the Trump Admin wiped out the entire $31m budget for a federal early learning grant & reduced funding for gifted & talented programs & magnet schools. Take action with @network4pubed.bsky.social: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...

Did you miss the OSOD May Insider? Catch up on the latest news and sign up: osod.org/may-insider/

Proposed budget cuts would pull billions of dollars from public education. Learn how much your community could lose at bit.ly/CutsCalculator and then tell your lawmaker to invest in public education! 📱 Click to call: buff.ly/RrlGJki 📧 Click to email: buff.ly/MTava1O

👩🏽‍🎓👨🏼‍🎓 Texas public schools support 843,000 students receiving special education services every day. 📊 Only a small fraction—2.7%— were awarded a voucher. 🏫 Families across Texas continue to trust & rely on their local public schools for specialized support, services, and care. #txlege #txed

Our Schools Our Democracy is excited to welcome former Texas lawmaker Glenn Rogers to our Board of Directors. Read our full release: osod.org/former-texas... #txed #txlege

VOUCHERS: Digging Into the Data. Follow the facts on Texas' $1B taxpayer-funded program. ⬇️ Read more: bit.ly/4vpfe4D #txlege

Out today: “The board made it clear at the board meeting that they were being pressured or threatened by TEA … that the district is under threat of takeover if they don’t make some pretty big changes, and Third Future is the only authorized turnaround partner from TEA.”

VOUCHERS: Who Applied & What's Next? Follow the facts on Texas’ $1B taxpayer-funded program. ⬇️ Read more: bit.ly/48erFWS #txlege

Dee Carney, director of the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, said the Florida school's approval goes back to a key question she has been asking about the voucher program: “Who's benefiting: private entities or the Texas public?”

Did you miss the OSOD April Insider? Catch up on the latest news and updates: osod.org/april-news-a...

Breaking: The Texas comptroller’s office said Tuesday that it has approved all eligible Islamic schools that applied to participate in the voucher program.

📰 As applications for vouchers close, a rocky process raises questions. Read our latest release: osod.org/as-applicati... #txed #txlege

Follow the facts on Texas’ $1B taxpayer-funded voucher program ⬇️ osod.org/this-week-in... #txlege

Texas voucher applicants are far more likely to be White than Texas public school students. The priority approval tiering may close that gap a bit— But it’ll grow again in the final usage rate once school admissions occur and successful voucher applicants become unsuccessful school applicants

Meanwhile, most voucher applicants are still not public school families. As of March 22, 60,605 public school families (out of 244,000 apps) have applied for a voucher. With 5.5m students statewide, that means approx. 1% of public school students have applied for a voucher.

🚨 New voucher demographic data highlights differences between voucher applicants and Texas public school students Read our release on the new data: osod.org/new-voucher-... #txlege #txed

🚨 New voucher demographic data highlights differences between voucher applicants and Texas public school students Read our release on the new data: osod.org/new-voucher-... #txlege #txed

This week's facts about Texas' 1B taxpayer-funded voucher program: osod.org/wp-content/u... @cbsnewstexas.bsky.social @expressnews.com @sacurrent.bsky.social @houstonchronicle.com #txlege

At least four Islamic schools in Texas, including one in Houston, have been added to the state's voucher program after the schools sued the comptroller's office for blocking them from the program.

Full press release: osod.org/federal-judg... #txlege #txed

It’s a tight turnaround that appears to contradict what state lawyers argued during a hearing in a Houston courtroom on Tuesday.

New: A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas to extend the application deadline for private school vouchers until March 31 due to the state’s exclusion of Islamic schools from the program.

Texas’ school voucher applications close Tuesday night. Early data shows most applicants attended a private school or home-school as of last year.

The fact that vouchers mostly go to already private students doesn’t mean they don’t cost public schools $$. It’s the opposite. The issue is state budgets. By absorbing costs for exiting private (or homeschoolers), states obligate taxpayers to costs previously paid by the private sector. 1/2

Texas’ school voucher applications close today. Early data shows most applicants attended a private school or home-school as of last year. 

Do you have a story about special education requirements or another concern about Texas' new voucher program? You can confidentially report to osod.org/voucher-watchdog-reporting-system/ to help track statewide trends and identify red flags affecting Texans.

As rural Texas electeds noted, the benefits of any voucher program would go to cities.

Join us this Thursday at 6:30p CT for a conversation on voucher lessons for Texas from @joshcowenmi.bsky.social, @sosarizona.org, @wiscednetwork.bsky.social, and @honesty4ohioed.bsky.social. Register: bit.ly/TXVoucherLessons.

🚨Vouchers for DISNEYLAND⁉️ 12News continues their deep dive into ESA voucher spending records, finding that Arizona taxpayers are bankrolling Disneyland trips, luxury resort stays, and international flights with taxpayer dollars meant for students’ education.

Join us this Thursday at 6:30p CT for a conversation on voucher lessons for Texas from @joshcowenmi.bsky.social, @sosarizona.org, @wiscednetwork.bsky.social, and @honesty4ohioed.bsky.social. Register: bit.ly/TXVoucherLessons.

The Voucher Watchdog Reporting Portal is live: osod.org/voucher-watchdog-reporting-system/ Texans can confidentially report potential fraud, discrimination, misuse of public funds, & other concerns. Texans deserve transparency about this $1b taxpayer-funded voucher program. #txed #txlege

Dee Carney, director of [TXCVT], which obtained the figures through a public records request: “Early voucher application data suggests that the overwhelming majority of families continue to choose & trust their local public schools to educate their children.” www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/tex...

"Some...are independent...Others are backed by billionaires like Elon Musk. Nat'l chains are also preparing to stand up scores of new microschools in [TX], often supported by $$ from school choice advocates, including the pro-voucher billionaire Jeff Yass, and “edtech” investors in Silicon Valley."

NEW: The TXCVT Voucher Watchdog Reporting Portal lets families, educators, & Texans confidentially report concerns about TX’s new $1B taxpayer-funded voucher program. Transparency starts with public voices. Full release: osod.org/texas-center... #txed #txlege

Breaking: 76% of TX voucher applications come from families whose children are not currently enrolled in public schools. Meanwhile, <1% of TX public and charter school families have applied for vouchers. Read our full press release: osod.org/early-vouche... #txed #txlege

Our own Dee Carney summarizes what little data we know on Texas voucher applicants: "It really raises more questions than it answers." Full story 🔽 www.click2houston.com/news/local/2...

Latest episode of Have You Heard goes deep into a story the media has completely missed: the backlash against school vouchers on the right (and why it matters.) Forget *education freedom.* These oonservatives see government overreach and socialism on.soundcloud.com/L8SfDbV07d1L...

From @houstonchronicle.com: www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/tex...

What can happen when voucher programs grow w/o guardrails? How can Texans push for transparency & fairness in the TEFA voucher program? Join a nat'l panel of voucher experts to hear research from other states and share tactics for ongoing advocacy. 💻️ bit.ly/TXVoucherLessons

Did you miss this month's newsletter? Catch up on out latest news and updates, and make sure to sign up for our monthly newsletters: bit.ly/OSODNewsletter #txed

With 16K PK voucher applicants — more than any other grade level — ⁦OSOD ED Carrie Griffith asks: If early education is important (and it is), “why not do it right and do it for all children?” TX funds public preschool at a half-day rate. #txed

Full story: www.yourbasin.com/news/local-p... #txlege #txed

“The conversation around ppl who were concerned about [the impact of charters]...was that charters would be very small, that they would take very little state funding, that they wouldn’t have any impact on independent school districts,” Woods said. “Well, 31 yrs later, we can see that that’s false.”

Lessons for Texas from other voucher states ⬇️ #txed

‼️Important new research on unlimited charter expansion and demographic differences between charters and ISDs. Read the story from @houstonchronicle.com: www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston... Find the full report: utexas.app.box.com/s/614svkc8p3...

Texans learned about our launch of the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency this week thanks to great reporting from: 1/ @houstonpublicmedia.bsky.social where OSOD ED Carrie Griffith flagged that the comptroller is not required to publish a report for 5 yrs #txed

Aspects of Texas' school voucher program are still being developed even though applications are now open. There are concerns about which private schools can participate, how they'll be vetted and how they'll serve students with special needs.

Oversight matters so Texans know who - and who is not - receiving Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA) vouchers. Follow our new initiative, the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, as we provide public oversight into this massive new state program. #txlege #txed

Did you miss this month's newsletter? Catch up on out latest news and updates, and make sure to sign up for our monthly newsletters: bit.ly/OSODNewsletter #txed

The results are in from other states' voucher programs. The Texas Center for Voucher Transparency will ensure that Texans have timely, credible information about how the voucher program operates, who benefits, and how it affects public schools and communities. #txlege #txed